Testimonials are a powerful yet much underused marketing resource to promote your event and to generate registrations. Once you know what makes a great testimonial and where to ask for one, and we covered this in our last article, you can make it easy for people to write these for you. In this article, we illustrate the difference between an OK and a great testimonial and give you a template to use when asking your participants for their feedback.

In our first testimonial article, we explained that testimonials are highly effective, first-hand, word-of-mouth proof that your event is worth attending. However, to be useful and worthwhile, testimonials must be:

It’s easier to see what makes a great testimonial if you put yourself in the role of the decision-maker. Imagine that you’re considering holding your event at a conference centre in the Rockies. Which of these three testimonials from the centre’s website would help you decide whether to choose this venue? Note that all these testimonials have credibility as they give the person’s name and company affiliation.

“We had a good time. I would highly recommend this conference centre to anyone wanting to come to Alberta.”
Susan Gregory, Gregory Interior Design, September 2012.

“Having our conference at this conference centre was awesome! The staff was friendly and knew their stuff, and the gorgeous facilities made the stay really enjoyable. I would recommend this venue to my family and friends.”
Steven Holbein, Triple Products, January 2013.

“This venue was an ideal place for our annual geological meeting. I received many glowing comments from participants about the conference centre itself and the spectacular scenery. The world-class location attracted many of our highly-rated international speakers, who might not have come to somewhere less spectacular. This was the first conference I’ve organized and the centre’s professional staff helped a great deal, especially with the budgeting aspects. I was particularly worried about the estimates for the food and beverages for all the breaks and receptions, but I got no surprises when I was presented with the final bill. You can trust the expertise of the staff here.”
Irene Handler, Earthsearch Consulting, April 2014.

The first testimonial doesn’t tell you anything at all; any business is hardly likely to put up a testimonial from someone who doesn’t recommend it. The second one is a little better as you know that that you’ll get on with the staff and that this person liked the facilities enough to recommend the venue to people he cares about.

The third testimonial is packed full of useful information, from the lure of the Rockies for attracting international speakers to the professional help afforded to newbie event planners. The specific mention of the accurate food and beverage cost estimates will set the minds of budget-wise event planners at ease. This is a great testimonial to include on a website.

As an aside, it’s also important to keep your testimonials up to date to show people’s recent experiences with your event.

In the first article about testimonials, we covered several different avenues through which to ask for testimonials or to ask people if they would be willing to give them. We also covered the reasons why people just don’t give testimonials. It’s necessary to make it as easy as possible for them to do so, so here’s a template for a follow-up email to send to obtain that input. You’ll need to adjust the questions depending on your event, but these are the basics to cover.

Dear [participant name]

Thank you again for attending [event name].

We’re collecting some testimonials about [event name] to support our future marketing efforts and would like to hear your thoughts and experiences of the event.

To make this quick and easy for you, we’ve included some questions to answer. As you can see, we’re interested in what your experiences were and what the benefits were to you in attending the event. Just type the answers below the questions or, if you prefer, write your own testimonial by running a few of the questions together.

We’ll use your response to write up a testimonial and then send it back to you for editing and approval. We’ve included space for you to enter your business website URL for a link-back to it from our website as a “thank you” for your participation.

Name:
Title:
Company Website:

Thank you for your help.

That’s it. Armed with these two articles, you now can use participants’ own words, in the form of testimonials, to illustrate the benefits of attending your event. Word-of-mouth advertising is just as effective as ever!

How to Ask for a Great Testimonial – ePly

How to Ask for a Great Testimonial

Getting Great Testimonials – With a Free Template You Can Use

What Makes a Good Testimonial

What You’re Asking For

Template to Help You Get Great Testimonials

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